First look at what massive new estate on the edge of Derby is going to look like

A more detailed look at the community park area (Image: Pegasus Design)

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For the last five years, Allestree residents have been opposing the development by Catesby Estates because of its proximity to Kedleston Hall but finally ran out of courts to appeal to in March this year.

Now Amber Valley Borough Council has received a reserved matters application from Catesby Estates for the site, called The Oaks, which shows some slight tweaks from the original plan submitted in 2014, and which the council originally turned down.

Some of the house types on the 400-home estate (Image: Pegasus Design)

The planned shop has gone from the original plan because there are considered to be other retail outlets a short distance away that are suitable. A proposal for a multi-use games area has also been removed.

The campaign against 400 homes being built in Kedleston Road

Kedleson Voice was set up to oppose housing proposals on the Kedleston Estate.

Its mission was simple - to stop the erosion of the Kedleston Estate and its green bio-diverse parkland, and to stop pressure on amenities in the area.

The group was initially formed by Dave Anderson and was registered as Residents Against Development.

However the support from local and industry professionals developed so quick that the group decided to re-brand under Kedleston Voice.

2014: Plans submitted to Amber Valley Borough Council, planning permission refused and campaign group set up

2016: Appeal and public inquiry resulted in planning inspector quashing borough council decision

2017: High Court judicial review quashed planning inspector's approval but in October Catesby Estates given permission to appeal

2018: Court of Appeal hears case and upholds the planning inspector's decision. Campaigners vow to fight but refused right to appeal to Court of Appeal

2019: Campaigners take case to Supreme Court but are refused permission to appeal

2019: Amber Valley councillors chose to approve the plans, submitted by Catesby Estates, bringing a close to a more than five-year battle over the 42-acre site.

2020: Campaigners raise objections to reserved matters re drainage on the site over fears of flooding

In its place, there there is a land arts and bike trail in a community park with a play area.

The development is designed with a traffic island at the junction of Kedleston Road and Askerfield Avenue and the application says there are plans to have more bus stops on Kedleston Road to serve the development.

The applications' design statement says: "The Oaks at Kedleston Road is a development with a distinctive, contemporary style architecture, sympathetic to its surrounding, creating a new gateway to Allestree.

"The Oaks is designed to integrate with the existing trees and green corridors. These green spaces are the heart of the community providing multi-functional, accessible spaces to play, rest and enjoy, with a community park benefiting both the existing and propose communities.

"The Oaks seeks to promote walking and cycling for a healthier lifestyle with a series of new links and routes within the site and easy access to public transport."

A plan showing the house groups, the community park and the roads on the estate (Image: Pegasus Design)

The long-running battle to stop developers Catesby Estates from getting the green light to build on 48 hectares overlooking the Kedleston Estate began in 2014 when Amber Valley Borough Council refused planning permission.

An appeal was lodged by Catesby and a public inquiry in 2016 led to the planning inspector overturning the borough council's original decision

This led to the creation of Kedleston Voice, which raised thousands of pounds, to take its battle to the High Court in July 2017, where the planning inspector's decision was quashed in a judicial review against the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

But, by October the same year, Catesby Estates was given permission to appeal and by April 2018, the issue had moved to the Court of Appeal.

Artist's impression of the open space and BMX track (Image: Pegasus Design)

This time, three Court of Appeal judges re-instated planning permission. Lord Justice Lindblom said he could find no flaw in a government planning inspector's August 2016 decision to grant outline consent for the development.

The judge rejected claims that the inspector took a too narrow approach to defining "the setting" of Kedleston Hall and its registered park and gardens.

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He said the inspector was entitled to focus on the lack of a visual or physical connection between the development site and the hall, which is screened behind a bank of trees.

But he had also taken into account the "historic, social and economic" links between the hall and land that once formed part of the wider estate.

Artist's impression of the layout on the site (Image: Pegasus Design)

The inspector had not simply set the historical connections "to one side", recognising their significance to the hall's setting. "He did not concentrate on visual and physical factors to the exclusion of everything else," the judge added.

And he had properly applied planning policies to the setting of the hall and other heritage assets in the area, according to the judge.